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WILDOMAR: Grandma says boy, 13, not a monster

Anthony Garcia (left) who has been charged with murder in the slaying of a man in Wildomar, sits in a courtroom at the Southwest Justice Center in French Valley on Monday, Sept. 24. Summer Stephens, also charged with murder, sits in the back row.

Matthew Warner turned 13 years old a week before authorities say he and two adults beat to death a 41-year-old âsnitchâ at an abandoned house in Wildomar.

The baby-faced boy, with blue eyes and short brown hair, is now charged with murder and is being held at juvenile hall in French Valley.

âTheyâre making him out to be a little monster and heâs not,â said his grandmother, Sandra Warner, of Lake Elsinore, who raised Matthew. âMy child is being held for something he had no control over.â

Matthewâs grandmother and uncle said the boy has problems â" he lies, steals and sneaks out of the house on a regular basis. He got expelled from school for stealing his principalâs wallet. But he isnât a violent boy, they said.

âIâm having trouble just keeping myself together,â Warner said, as tears rolled down her cheeks. âAll I can think is, âMatthew is in there and I canât see him.ââ

In juvenile court Wednesday, Sept. 26, dressed in yellow juvenile hall clothes and shackled, the boy wore a blank expression and cast glances at the audience where his grandmother and uncle sat during a brief hearing.

The defense attorney denied the murder charge, as well as allegations filed Wednesday that the murder was committed to prevent a witness from testifying in a criminal proceeding, that the defendant lay in wait and that the killing happened during a robbery.

Anthony Albert Garcia, 32, and Summer Sharmaine Stephens, 38, are facing the same charges. The added allegations make them eligible for the death penalty. Garcia and Stephens are scheduled for arraignment Oct. 10.

Because Matthew is charged in juvenile court, the maximum penalty he could face is confinement till the age of 23, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Riverside County district attorneyâs office.

Coronerâs officials have not identified the man killed because they have been unable to reach his family.

Prosecutor Jess Walsh has said the 41-year-old was slain because he had been a witness â" and the victim â" in an August assault in Lake Elsinore. The two men charged in that case are friends with Garcia and Stephens, he said. One of them â" Zackary Warner â" is Matthewâs brother.

Stephens summoned deputies to the Mariposa Road property about 6:30 p.m. Sept. 18 and deputies arrived to find her and Garcia in the street. Garcia was suffering from a head wound.

Walsh said itâs unclear what happened. The three defendants gave differing accounts, he said.

âMom, I think heâs dead.â

Sandra Warner, 65, said she learned after her grandsonâs arrest that he and other children had been hanging out at the property where the killing took place and that Garcia, Stephens and other vagrants had been giving them liquor and drugs.

Warner said she believes Garcia got Matthew drunk and threatened to harm him if he didnât participate in the beating.

She said Matthew returned to their home, near Mariposa Road, that evening about 6:30. She didnât see him, but he yelled a greeting. She said he took a shower and got something to eat. Later, they watched television together in her bedroom, Warner said.

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